A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 8, 1990
Numbers Gain Or
Numbers Game?
GREG SOLT
Northampton Co. Agent
What came first? The chicken or the egg?
A similar question can be asked of DHIA
members.
Which comes first? Do DHIA members herds
produce more on average because they belong to
DHIA? Or is it just that herds who would be above
average any way are more likely to join DHIA?
This question came up during a discussion I had
recently with a dairyman. I was trying to convince
him to try DHIA.
I’d rate this dairyman among the better managers
in our county. He has a good producing herd of cows
based on his milk slips. I showed him the records
proving DHIA member herds averaged several
thousand more pounds of production per cow com
pared to non-DHIA herds. He argued that the num
bers were “fixed."’
“Look who belongs to DHIA in our county,” he
stated. He then listed 10 or 12 herds and argued they
had the best land, best bams, best genetics and best
management. They belonged to DHIA 100 percent.
Then he listed five or six of our less productive
herds. They were 100 percent non-members.
“DHIA can’t take the credit. It’s just a number
game. The ‘good’ herds belong for the prestige not
for the records,” he argued.
There is some truth in this dairyman’s logic. Bet
ter managers are more prone to use the tools avail
able to them and DHIA is one such tool. But it
doesn’t tell the whole story.
Imagine if we eliminated all DHIA programs for
5 years. If we compared the averages of the herds of
those who had been members and those who were
not. I’m sure there would still be a difference in
favor of former members.
But (and here’s the big “but”) the difference
wouldn’t be as large as it is now.
To illustrate, let me share an example of a farmer
with whom I worked.
I was a county agent in Lebanon County from
1976 to 1979. One herd I worked with then was one
I’d call a top-managed herd. I worked with this herd
many limes.
Shortly after I came to the county he stopped
DHIA testing. About two years after he quit, I got a
call.
It was taking too long to milk his cows. He felt
something was wrong with his milking system.
In 1976 I performed a milking routine check for
the farmer. He averaged S'A minutes per cow. Now,
two years later, his lime was more than 8 minutes
per cow.
His pipeline system was okay. We traced part of
the problem back to when he dropped DHIA. Then
he knew exaedy what each cow produced. Now he
based his estimate on what he saw in the line.
Cows that took longer to milk were assumed to
milk more. Fast-milking cows were culled. He’d
been selecting for harder or longer milking cows,
not more productive cows. We went back and
checked his old DHIA records and he was surprised
that he had culled many of his “good cows” based on
the old records and kept some plain out “dogs” and
considered them good cows today.
Even so, he still had a fairly productive herd. But
we did a check of milk slips and found his average
production had chopped over the two years.
I can’t remember the exact numbers, but I
remember it happened at a time the overall county
rolling herd average was going up about 500 pounds
of milk per year.
What did I learn from this experience?
This was a good herd and even without DHIA it
remained a productive herd compared to the county
average. However, without the DHIA records, the
Forage, Feed Analysis
Available By Mail
808 ORMSBY
Director of Member Training
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) On Sept.
1, Pa.DHIA began providing a full range of forage
and feed analysis services through a joint agreement
with the Northeast DHIA lab in Ithaca, N.Y.
This means that you can order service by mail
from the N.E. DHIA lab for the same rates paid by
NE DHIA members.
Your Pa. DHIA supervisor should be able to
explain the service and to provide forage sample
bags and order forms at no cost. This is a direct mail
program and you will send your samples to the lab in
Ithaca.
We are pleased to making this service available to
you and if you need supplies or have any questions
at all. feel free to call Pa. DHIA at 1-800-255-5344.
manager made mistakes that lowered the herd’s
performance.
It doesn’t matter if the herd is average, in the top
20 percent, or the lowest 20 percent, the use of good
production records makes a significant difference.
So what’s the answer to the question I raised
earlier?
Do herds get better when the owners are DHIA
members or are owners of belter herds more likely
to join DHIA?
It’s a combination of both,
How Does Your Herd
Compare?
STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) —This data is
pulled from Pennsylvania DHIA’s mainframe
computer each week. It is a one-week summary
representing approximately one-fourth of the
herds on test, as they arc tested monthly.
These data are valuable from a business man
agement standpoint and can be used for compar
ing your operations to the averages from almost
1,400 herds across the state.
DHIA Averages for all herds processed between
11/19/90 and 11/26/90
Number of Herds Processed
Number of Cows Processed
Number of Cows Per Herd
Milk Per Cow (Lbs)
%-Fat
Fat Per Cow (Lbs)
%-Protein
HAIL, HIGH WINDS AND THE AGRONOMIST
WHO DID MORE THAN SHOOT THE BREEZE.
It was the worst hailstorm to hit in
years. And when it was over, cornfields
had practically disappeared.
Pioneer agronomist Jerome Lensing got
right to work, organizing meetings for
anyone interested in the damage.
More than 100 fanners attended. Together
they visited dozens of farms, cut open the
com stubs and made stand counts.
What Jerome told the farmers was sur
prising. Yes, the corn was beat up. Yes, it
looked ugly. But no, there was absolutely
no need to replant.
The corn had reached the fifth leaf stage
and was about five inches tall when the
hail beat it down to nothing. Bid the grow
ing pdnt was still bdow ground—and
still white and healthy.
Pioneer could have sold a lot of com to a
lot of worried farmers that Memorial Day mi"l|k|CCD
weekend. Instead, we sold them on the rlUltltCK*
value of a good business partner. JJsZsL) brand-seed corn
whose goal is to help farmers grow JOB Ml
com more efficiently and more
Pennsylvania
Dairy Herd **
Improvement Association
Protein Per Cow (Lbs)
Average Days in Milk Per Cow
♦Value for CWT Milk(s)
♦Value for CWT Grain(s)
♦Value for CWT Hay(s)
♦Value for CWT Silage(s)
♦Value for Pasture Per Day(s)
♦Value for Milk Per Cow Per
Year(s)
♦Feed Consumed Per Cow Per
Year(Lbs)
A: Grain
B; Hay
C: Silage
D: Day Pasture
♦Feed Cost Per Cow Per Year(s)
A: Grain
B: Hay
C: Silage
D: Pasture
♦Total Feed Cost Per Cow Per
Year(s)
♦lncome Over Feed Costs Per
Year(s)
♦Grain to Milk Ratio
♦Feed Cost Per CWT Milk(s)
Avg Level For 1,086 SCC Herds
♦Member generated figures
1,341
77,210
57.5
17,216
3.66
630
3.18
Three weeks after the hailstorm, Jerome
returned. And everybody wanted to buy
him lunch.
We will continue breeding new hybrids with high
yield potential and with a balance of
other key traits that give you the greatest potential
fora successful crop. And that means
more Earning Power for you. As a valued business
partner, you have our commitment
to delivering quality products and services.
Our goal is your satisfaction.
FOCUS
Call I-800-DHI-TEST for service or information
OUR PLEDGE.
We pledge to provide products
and services to increase the efficiency and
profitability of America's farmers.
547
315
14.78
8.16
4.35
1.52
.31
2,545
6,870
2,590
14,506
65
561
112
221
20
916
1,629
1:2.5
5.32
338,967